If You Had Two Minutes to Talk With the Pope, What Would You Say to Him?

If you had two minutes to talk with the pope, what would you say to him?

O my, I have never asked myself that question at all.

I would say, "Could you just, in one minute, explain your view of justification?" And then on the basis of his one minute, I would give my view of justification.

I think Rome and Protestantism are not yet ready — I don't think the Reformation is over. I don't think that enough change has happened in Roman understanding of justification, and a bunch of other things.

I'm just picking justification because it's so close to the center. You could pick papal authority or the nature of the mass or the role of sacraments or the place of Mary.

But those seem to be maybe a little more marginal than going right to the heart of the issue of, "Do you teach that we should rely entirely on the righteousness of Christ imputed to us by faith alone as the ground of God being 100% for us, after which necessary sanctification comes? Do you teach that?"

And if he said, "No, we don't," then I'd say, "I think that right at the core of Roman Catholic theology is a heresy," or something like that.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

Share the Joy! You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in physical form, in its entirety or in unaltered excerpts, as long as you do not charge a fee. For posting online, please use only unaltered excerpts (not the content in its entirety) and provide a hyperlink to this page. For videos, please embed from the original source. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.